Politician incorrectly identifies college basketball players as migrants

A Michigan politician recently appeared to be sounding the alarm about events in Detroit.

"Happening right now. Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?” Republican state Rep. Matt Maddock wrote in a March 27 post on X, which included one photo showing a row of buses and another showing part of an Allegiant Air plane, obscured by buildings.

But those weren’t migrants passing through the airport, according to PolitiFact. They were college basketball athletes in Detroit to participate in the NCAA basketball tournament.

A Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesperson told PolitiFact the buses were there to transport players competing in the tournament to Detroit's Little Caesars Arena for the games.

The airplane had brought the Gonzaga University team.

“Allegiant had one flight to (the Detroit Metropolitan Airport) March 27. It was a charter flight carrying Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team from Spokane,” Allegiant Air spokesperson Hector Mejia told PolitiFact.

The Gonzaga team also posted a video on X, titled “Touched down in Motown,” showing the players taking the flight.

Various social media users commented on Maddock’s post, explaining what was going on.

“This is the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, not a group of migrants. The police escort is taking them to the NCAA Men’s Sweet Sixteen,” one user wrote.

However, Maddock didn’t correct his post, rather he doubled down, and added incorrect and misleading information, PolitiFact said.

Calendar, not Biden, responsible for visibility day

As many people spent last weekend celebrating Easter, some took offense that Transgender Day of Visibility was also commemorated this past Sunday, and social media users blamed President Joe Biden for it.

“He could pick any day to declare a Transgender day. For Joe Biden to select Easter Sunday is a insult to Christians. This was intentional. It was done with the intent to flip the middle finger at Christians. His staff knew exactly what they were doing,” read one post on X.

But the post is missing context, according to the Associated Press. Although Biden has issued a proclamation to commemorate the day each year since he’s been president, he has no input about when the day of recognition takes place.

Transgender Day of Visibility has been celebrated on March 31 since 2009 when it began. The holiday was created by Rachel Crandall-Crocker, the executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit Transgender Michigan. That it fell on the same day as Easter this year is merely a coincidence.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on April 1 that the Biden administration was “surprised by the misinformation” about the holiday.

“Every year for the past several years on March 31 Transgender Day of Visibility is marked,” she said. “And as we know, for folks who understand the calendar and how it works, Easter falls on different Sundays every year. And this year it happened to coincide with Transgender Visibility Day. And so that is the simple fact. That is what has happened. That is where we are.”

No evidence of terrorism in bridge crash

More than a week after the container ship Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, killing six construction workers, conspiracy theories continue to circulate on social media.

A Facebook reel posted on March 26, titled “8x speed really exaggerates how sharp the Dali turned just before striking the bridge,” shows an accelerated video of the incident. During the clip, a narrator says, “You can’t tell me this looks like an accident. I mean, take a look at the angle in which it takes in order to hit that bridge.”

But this is not accurate, according to PolitiFact. Officials have said there was no evidence of terrorism and the crew did what they could to avoid the crash.

Following the tragedy, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, FBI special agent William DelBagno and President Joe Biden all said the crash was an accident and not an intentional act.

“I want to be clear that there is no specific or credible information to suggest there are ties to terrorism in this incident,” DelBagno said during a news conference.

While the National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating, Clay Diamond, executive director of the American Pilots’ Association, told several news outlets the crew tried to avoid the crash.

The pilot did "everything that he could have done" to slow down the ship and prevent it from hitting the bridge, Diamond told CNN.

Goldberg not hawking Bud Light

A boycott last year, following a social media campaign with Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, cost the beer its top spot in the U.S. market.

A recent post makes it appear Anheuser-Busch is trying again.

“Bud Light Appoints Whoopi Goldberg as Its New Brand Ambassador to Boost Sales,” reads a recent Facebook post.

But that claim is not true, according to Reuters. The post includes a headline that originated on the satirical site Lifetoday.press.

A spokesperson for Goldberg told Reuters the claim is false and there has been no announcement from Anheuser-Busch to support this.

It appears some users didn’t know it was a joke, leaving comments such as, “Too woke for me” and “Apparently Bud did not learn from the last nightmare I guess they want to go out of business all together.”

• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.